The World Knows (Post Far From Home)
by MiraculouslyTrashy
Summary: SPOILERS Taking place right where Far From Home left off, Peter has to deal with the immediate consequences of his identity being exposed by none other than Mysterio and J Jonah Jameson. Luckily Happy is there to help him through it and the decision he must make.


All the eyes in New York City turn towards Spider-Man. The words of J. Jonah Jameson still echoing through the streets, across just about every internet connected device in the city.

Spider-Man turns slowly from the 10-story-tall screen that had just shown Mysterio's video from London, exposing his identity. His gaze locks with MJ, her mouth hanging slightly agape as a crowd starts to fill in around her, pushing past her to get closer to him up on the lamppost. MJ mouths, 'Go, get out of here', as she also starts to back up out of the scene.

Frozen, Peter takes a few moments to make his limbs move. His mind is clouded, running the clips he had just seen over and over again in his head.

The shouts from the people below break through his daze: "Is it true?" "Will you be using these 'attack drones' more?" "Why did you kill Mysterio?" "Is your name really 'Peter Parker'?"

He wavers on top of the light post, trying to block out their questions. He stammers, "Uh, uh, gotta, gotta stop that crime, over there..." before finally swinging away.

He stops short of his apartment building when he catches a glimpse of the crowd of people and reporters already surrounding the building. He quickly takes out his phone and dials May. It barely rings once before she picks up, "Peter! Peter are you okay?" she asks frantically.

"I was just calling to ask you the same thing." He replies, taking off his mask and keeping in the shadows of the rooftop across the street.

She sighs in slight relief, "I'm fine, don't worry about me. Happy and his security team are keeping the trespassers out."

Peter closes his eyes, exhaling, the reality of the situation crashing down on him, "May, I'm so-"

"Don't you apologize! This isn't your fault. We'll figure something out. For all that the public knows, Beck could have been lying about Spider-Man's identity. Nothing has been confirmed, or denied to the public by you, which is the only voice that matters now." She says in a level-headed tone, attempting to keep Peter's and her own fears at bay.

"I-I'm sorry," Peter mutters anyway into the phone, his eyes still closed, hoping that when he opened them the whole situation would just stop.

May pauses, "This isn't your fault, Peter" she reiterates, trying to soothe him through the phone. "H-Happy just wants you to lay low for a bit while he gets the media under control." She relays, faltering, her worry creeping into her voice.

He clears his throat, "W-where should I, where can I go? My face is all over the city, oh, no, what about Ned and MJ?" He realizes, "They'll be connected to me like you, I've gotta-"

"Happy already has teams looking after them," she assures him, "he also said you can hide out in the old Avengers tower. Nothing's moved in on the top floor yet, and no one can get in there either." She explains, and Peter can tell that she's pacing, "Just try and make sure no one sees you."

He nods, "I'll try." He peeks out and sees the familiar abandoned building along the skyline. "I love you, May. Have Happy call me when anything has changed."

"Be safe, Peter, please," she softly begs.

"You too." He hangs up and puts his mask back on, shooting a text to the group chat with MJ and Ned: 'are you guys ok?', before slowly and carefully making his way towards the Avengers Tower.

His suit scans the area around him, pinpointing the best time and place for him to swing to keep out of sight.

He makes the final climb up and over the railing of the balcony. He looks for a way inside, crawling up to one of the glass doors and pulling, "Stark tech confirmed. Welcome." Friday's voice chimes, followed by the sound of the lock releasing.

"Guess they didn't remove _everything_ on moving day." He whispers as he enters the lounge. The door locks behind him and the glass wall tints automatically. Peter's shoulders relax a bit. He removes his mask and looks at his phone which has grown warm from the influx of notifications suddenly bombarding his social media, texts, and voicemails from people he's never met. He wades through the noise to get back to his group chat:

MJ: '_besides the small crowd of reporters that followed me home, i'm great_'

Ned: '_ur asking if we're ok? are you ok? Taht jerkwad Mysterio blew your identity to the world!_'

MJ: '_where are u, peter? I'm watching the news for any word about u and they havent seen u_'

Peter texts back, leaning up against the glass, looking out over the city:

Peter: '_Happy told may to tell me to hideout till he gets a handle on things. I'm at avengers tower_'

Ned: '_woah that's cool at least, what's it like up there?_'

Peter: '_it's mostly empty. Some of the tech is still integrated into the building tho, it let me in. happy said he sent people to protect you guys, are they there?_'

MJ: '_yeah, a couple large white dudes escorted me home and i think are still outside my door_'

Ned: '_same._'

Peter holds his phone down, sighing with relief, replying:

Peter: '_i'm so sorry this is happening guys,_'

Ned: '_Don't worry about us, bro, but like are you gonna like confirm or deny what mysterio and that jameson guy said?_'

Peter: '_what do you mean?_'

Ned: '_i mean i'm sure we can figure out the whole peter parker and spiderman seen in the same place at the same time together/ cover up if we need to, it's one of my favorite tropes_'

MJ: '_he's got a point, can't be that hard to pull off_'

He considers this for a second, watching the sun begin to set behind the skyline.

Peter: '_you think that kind of thing works in real life?_'

MJ: '_well i guess people know spiderman has stark tech which can manipulate the public to seeing what ever you want, so who knows_'

Ned: '_yeah might want to keep that on the DL_'

His phone starts to vibrate as Happy's face takes up the screen with an incoming call. Peter accepts the call and puts him on speaker, "Happy, tell me some good news, please."

Distant shouts of reporters call out from Happy's side of the call, fading into the background before he speaks, "Well, we've got solid perimeters sets up around May and your friends. We also got our data-blocker finally up on everyone as well, basically hiding your personal accounts from the public for now." He states, "Did you get in the Tower fine?"

Peter nods, "Yeah, yeah, super easy"

"Good, good. So, our next move is going to be based off you, kid." Happy informs followed by the sound of a door closing, the crowd noises fully dissipated.

Peter rocks on his heels, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, we can squash this. We can get our cleanup and recovery teams clearing your name as soon as you give the word. No guarantees your life will be exactly the same, but we can get pretty close." He overviews, "Or, we set up an official press conference, a controlled setting, where 'Peter Parker' can introduce himself as Spider-Man to the world."

Peter absorbs this carefully, "And, uh, when do you need this decision by?"

"Well I don't want to rush you but sooner would be better than later." He confides.

"Cool,cool,cool,cool,cool, so, uh, wow, so should I make a pro/con list or what should I do?" Peter starts pacing around the room, dim lights flicker on as the sun gets lower.

Happy hesitates, "I-I can't really make this decision for you, Pete. Do you have any gut-reaction either way?"

"Honestly, my gut-reaction is to be unsure about everything." He flusters, cracking his knuckles nervously before a sudden calm rushes over him, "How was... Mr. Stark sure when he wanted to tell everyone he was Iron Man?" He asks quietly, putting his phone down on the bar, leaning forward over it.

Peter remembered that day, well, just barely. He was only a few years old when May turned on the news with that press conference as the biggest story of the night, probably of the year. Over the years he had rewatched Tony's reveal several times on YouTube, just mesmerized by how confident and cool Tony Stark was, and loved the press's sudden reaction to his words: "I am Iron Man".

He can tell Happy is collecting his thoughts before answering, "I-I honestly don't know. I could never predict what Tony had going through his head at any given moment." He chuckles to himself quietly, "I think he just had a feeling that it was something he needed to do in the moment. He didn't have to think about the consequences, because he knew that whatever came his way, he could handle it."

Peter nods, "Well, of course, he's Tony Stark."

"But the consequences were that it strained his relationships, it delayed him starting a family because he feared putting more people that he loved in danger," Happy adds sincerely, "But it also allowed Tony to live truthfully with the public, which he needed when he realized where his old weapons were ending up. Despite what it seemed like, he wanted to be held accountable for his actions as Tony and as Iron Man."

"So, he never regretted letting people know his identity?" Peter stops pacing, looking at his mask in his hand.

"I'm sure he had regrets once and a while; like everyone else, Tony had doubts, even though he didn't like to show it." Happy says knowingly.

Peter presses his lips together, putting his mask down on the bar next to his phone. "So what does that mean for me?"

"I don't know. What does it mean for you?" Happy prods gently, not trying to sway him either way, but to make his own decision.

Peter stares into the eyes of his mask, his reflection looking back at him through the lenses. "I think... I think, Mr. Stark said, he wanted me 'to be better'. And I think that means, deciding what's best for me, and not just following his example." He inhales slowly through his nose, "I'm not ready. I'm not ready for the world to know my identity. Not yet. My relationship with MJ is still new, and when Beck targeted my friends in London, that... t-that was the scariest moment of my life. I'm so lucky that you were there to help protect them, but what if in the future you're not." His voice breaks a bit, "It would fall on me. The less people who can connect my friends and family to Spider-Man, the better right now. I want to be a 'normal kid' a bit longer, if that's okay."

"That's perfectly fine, Pete. I'll get my crew on it right now." Happy turns from the phone, saying a code into another device that Peter can't make out. He returns to their call, "They're clearing your name as we speak."

"Thank you." He sighs with relief, finally feeling his muscles fully relax.

"And Peter," Happy cuts back in, "this doesn't make you any less of a hero, by the way. Admitting your limits is one of the hardest things heroes have to do. Trust me, I know a lot of super people."

Peter smiles, "Thanks, Happy."

"Any day, kid. So just stay low for a bit longer until I give the all-clear and you can come home."

By the next morning, _anonymously_ sent in footage someone took of Spider-Man chasing after bank robbers that clearly showed 'Peter Parker' watching from the sidelines as Spider-Man swung overhead, was playing on every news network and social media page. Other _anonymous_ tips came in from 'experts' explaining how the footage sent in by Mysterio was doctored, a prank against Peter Parker by one of his classmates that got out of hand.

Even J. Jonah Jameson dropped the story on 'Peter Parker', but still held onto the rhetoric that Spider-Man was a menace to the city, and not without faults.

But the worst was over for Peter. He accepted the teases from Flash who taunted how anyone could ever believe that 'Penis Parker' is Spider-Man, the only time he's ever been grateful for Flash's relentless bullying.

"Told you you could pull the old 'can't be in two places at once' bit in real life." Ned nudges Peter as they and MJ settle down on the couch in Peter's living room.

"Yeah, gratefully people aren't very critical of what the media tells them is real." MJ says sarcastically before Peter and Ned give her a look, "I mean I'm actually grateful for people's ignorance this once." She amends.

"Same." Ned and Peter say in unison.

MJ leans forward in her seat, "If you're ever thinking about telling anyone else your identity, run them by me, I'll be able to tell if we can trust them or not." She points her finger at Peter, punctuating her words. "We're gonna keep your secret on lock-down".

"Totally." Ned agrees, "If they want Spider-Man, they'll have to go through us!" Ned pounds his fist into the palm of his other hand. "I should also make an official set up so I'm ready to be your guy-in-the-chair whenever you need me."

Peter leans back and smiles to himself, "I don't know what I'd do without you guys."

Ned sticks his hand out between the three of them, "Team friends-with-spiderman" he declares.

MJ puts her hand on top of his, "Friends-with-spiderman", she smirks at Peter.

Peter hesitates, "Do I put my hand in? Because technically-"

"Just put your hand in," MJ shoves him playfully with her shoulder.

He chuckles, "Team friends-with-spiderman" he states, adding his hand to the top.

"Team friends-with-spiderman!" May pops in from the next room and rushes over to add her hand on top of Peters, pushing down and then throwing her hand in the air excitedly.

The three kids burst out laughing but follow suit, exploding their hands from the center and into the air beside May.


End file.
